The present invention relates to a new and improved holding fixture for releasably connecting at least two wall elements.
In its more particular aspects, the present invention more specifically relates to a new and improved holding fixture for releasably connecting at least two wall elements and comprising a predetermined number of holding clamps. The two wall elements constitute, for example, a front wall element and a rear wall element. The front wall element is arranged substantially parallel to the rear wall element and is releasably connectable to the rear wall element by means of the predetermined number of holding clamps which grippingly extend around the margins of the rear wall element.
Presently there exists in a great number of instances the problem of connecting a substantially flat rear wall which has a load-carrying function and which can be connected, for example, by hanging the same on, for instance, a support structure, with a decorative, protective, reflecting and the like front wall in an inconspicuous and, if possible, attractive and slip-proof manner. As an example there are mentioned displaceable walls, panels, elements or the like for use in exhibitions, fairs, presentations or the like, cover elements, decoration elements and heat-insulating elements which are used in architecture and construction engineering. The invention is directed in particular to a holding fixture for pictures, maps, display objects or the like which are intended to be mounted, for example, on walls, or for objects containing a reinforcing rear wall, for example, for holding the glass of pictures which can be uprightly positioned, or the like. The invention furthermore relates to, for example, mirrors and the like. In the last mentioned cases there is thus provided a transparent or light-reflecting front wall which offers an unhindered view.
A great number of holding fixtures are in use for architectural purposes and for purposes related to the techniques of presentation and in most of the known holding fixtures complicated constructions are provided for interconnecting the front wall and the rear wall. There have become known, for example, frame means for pictures, decorative plates etc. and which frame means all have in common that they are mostly releasably connected to a reinforcing rear wall by means of their parts which serve for mounting purposes. The frame means are designed such that they grippingly extend approximately in the manner of claws around the margins of the supporting rear wall, a possibly present picture support, the display object and the front glass or decorative front plate. There are thus known, for example, constructions in which the holding clamps are interconnected on the rear side of the (picture) rear wall by means of cords, wires, springs or metal or plastic bars, whereby an adaptation to different sizes of the wall element can be made, however, only within certain limits. There are further known mountable holding clamps which can be mounted independently of each other and which are to be connected to the picture rear wall by the most various means, for example, by snap-fit connections or by spikes which must be stuck into the rear wall. Finally, a generally used mounting system should not remain unmentioned, wherein slot grooves are machined into a picture rear wall on the rear side thereof. The slot grooves are outwardly deepened at an inclination and extend parallel to the picture margins, and resiliently biased holding clamps with correspondingly inclined bent-off extensions engage with the slot grooves.
Disadvantages of these systems which have become known hitherto, are their relative elaborate construction, expensiveness and complexity during assembly. In the case of larger-size objects there also exists the danger of a release of the clamps from the picture rear wall due to the deformation of, for example, the clamps, the aforementioned spikes or the extensions at the holding clamps which are in engagement with the groove. Such deformation occurs as a result of the continuous action of the inherent weight. In the last-mentioned system there exists the danger, when using the generally employed rear wall materials, for example, strong cardboards, fiber boards or the like that the grooves in the rear wall are damaged after a number of front changes and that then there is no longer ensured positive holding of the front wall element, hence for example the glass.